2023 Senatorial Elections: INEC denies endorsing Lawan, Akpabio contrary to speculations of succumbing to pressure from APC, party stakeholders hail decision
The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), has denied allegations that it had falsified documents endorsing the nomination of the serving President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan as the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), in Yobe North.
The electoral body denied a similar endorsement for former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, as APC Senatorial candidate in Akwa Ibom Northwest.
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye in a statement issued on Tuesday, said the allegations have no modicum of truth in them and should be completely disregarded.
“Not for the first time, our attention has been drawn to a story published by an online medium, that the commission has doctored, backdated, and certified documents to accommodate the nominations emanating from Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial Districts, in respect of Senators Ahmed Lawan and Godswill Akpabio. Nothing can be further from the truth.”
The statement reads in part: “As evidence of the alleged role played by the commission, a certified true copy of Form 9C uploaded by their political party and received by the commission on 17th June 2022, when the nomination portal closed was presented”.
“For clarity, the Form EC9 (submission of names of candidates by political parties), is the Form uploaded by parties on the INEC Nomination Portal. This is indicated on the title of the form, which was received on 17th June 2022, when the portal closed”.
“What follows is the publication of the personal particulars of nominated candidates which was done a week later”.
“The Forms of the two personalities in question were not published by the commission. The decision of the commission triggered legal action which is still ongoing”.
“It, therefore, defies logic and common sense to go around and submit doctored documents, purportedly recognizing the duo as candidates, when the matter is sub-judice”.
INEC explained further that it had in the course of the legal battles, granted the request of a law firm for a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Form EC9, submitted by APC, as its candidate for Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District, which it was required by law to do. The Form according to INEC was certified on 15th July 2022.
The electoral umpire noted that if the promoters of the spurious allegations had taken their time to look more closely, they would have noticed that it is the Form that is now being mischievously interpreted as INEC endorsement for Lawan and Akpabio.
“If minimum care has been exercised by the promoters of the story, they would have seen the two stamps of the commission, bearing different dates on the form. It is this form that is now misconstrued as INEC’s endorsement.”
“For the records, the commission has not recognized any of the two personalities as a Senatorial candidate”.
“We call for responsible reportage, as against the unwarranted attack on the commission and its officials, over a matter that can be easily fact-checked”.
The convener of APC National Stakeholders Forum Aliu Audu while appearing as a guest on ARISE TV talk show Wednesday said the majority of the party members stand by the electoral act and the rule of law. He said INEC did the right thing by disqualifying the two senatorial aspirants.
Meanwhile, last week until now the social media was washed with reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission has backdated Certified True Copies of reports of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries to accommodate Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, Godswill Akpabio, and others as candidates in the 2023 general elections.
Bashir Machina won the party’s ticket for Yobe North Senatorial District, while Udom Ekpoudom won the primary election for Akwa Ibom North-West which was monitored by INEC officials.
In Yobe, a certified true copy of the commission’s report from the election of May 28, 2022, revealed Machina polled 289 votes out of 300 delegates. The document was certified by the electoral office on June 23, 2022.
The National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu had warned of severe sanctions if Machina refused to relinquish his ticket to Lawan.
Adamu claimed that the party is supreme and that it reserves the right to decide who gets its ticket in any election.
In Akwa Ibom, Akpabio was declared the winner of another primary, but Mike Igini, INEC resident electoral commissioner (REC) for the state, had said the exercise which produced the former minister as a candidate was not monitored by the commission.
The comment by Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee apparently to prepare the minds of Nigerians to what they are about to make public on the final list on Channels television may have accentuated this notion.
Okoye’s comment probably not unconnected with the position of Mike Igini, Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom on Akpabio’s senatorial candidacy was ‘RECs are not recognised members of INEC and the commission is not bound by the reports of party primaries monitored by state offices because they also send monitors from Abuja that write reports to INEC Headquarters.
Section 31 of the Electoral Act only allows for substitution when a candidate dies or when he or she withdraws from the race and informs INEC in writing.
The section reads: “A candidate may withdraw his or her candidature by notice in writing signed by him and delivered personally by the candidate to the political party that nominated him for the election and the political party shall convey such withdrawal to the commission not later than 90 days to the election.”
Though INEC had since disassociated itself from the comment, this discordant tunes from headquarters and states where party primaries were conducted have created doubts and strengthen the alleged story.